Phase measuring instrument



Dec. 17, 1940. f w, s I y 2,225,348

PHASE MEASURING INSTRUMENT Filed June 12, 19:57

Inventor: 'Wa|ter- Mikels n, y W 6.1]

Hi Attorpey.

Patented Dec. 17,

General Electric Company, a corporation of New York 1 Application June 12, 1931, Serial N... 147,932

'" l. 1 Claim.- (ct 172-245)- My invention relates to methods and apparatus for measuring phase angles.

It is an object of my. invention to provide simple, rugged apparatus for measuring the phase angle between two voltages.

A further object of my invention is the provision of such apparatus for accurately measuring small phase angles.

Other and'further objects and advantages will become apparent as the description proceeds.

In carrying out my invention in its preferred form f connect the two voltages, the phase angle between which is to be determined, in series opposition so that a diflerential voltage is produced, varying substantially in proportion to the phase angle forsmall phase angles. I provide a push-pull electric valve amplifier circuit with connections such that the anodes are energized by a voltage proportional to one of the voltages or the sum of the voltages to be compared and the grids are energized by a voltage corresponding to the dlfierential voltage shifted ninety degrees. instrument is so connected in the valve circuit that its deflection is proportional to the-difference in anode currents and serves as a measure of the phase angle.

The invention may be understood more readily from the ioilowing dctaiied description when cognsiclered in connection with the accompanying drawing and those features of the invention to, it),

which are believed to be novel and patentable will be pointed out in the claim appended herein the drawing, Fig. i is a circuit diagram representing schematically one embodiment of my invention; Figs. 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d are graphs representing voltages existing invarious parts oi the apparatus when the voltages to be compared are exactly in phase; Figs. 3a, 3b, 3c, and 3d are graphs representing voltages in the apparatus when there is a small phase difference; and Figs. 4c, and iii are graphs corresponding to the graphs of Figs. 3a, 3b,

phase difierence is of the opposite sign.

Referring more in detail to the drawing, two voltages, the phase difference of which is to be determined, are represented by A and B; 'iwo pairs of terminals which the voltages A and B may he applied. The terminals ii and it are so arranged that the voltages A and B are connected in series-opposition and are applied either'directly or indirectiy through transformers it and it, respectively, to input terminals 95 of a phase shifter it. A push-pull amplifier is provided, consisting and control electrodes 23 A center-core direct-current responsive 3c, and 3d when the it and ii are provided to.

of a pair of electric valves or discharge tubes l1 and it, which may be of any suitable type, such as electronic discharge devices, or more specifically, such as vacuum tubes commercially known as Pliotrons. 5

The tubes "and I8 consist of envelopes containing anodes i9 and 20. cathodes 2i and 22,

and 24, respectively. The control electrodes 23 and 25 are connected to output terminals 25 of the phase shifter term The cathodes 2i and- 22 are electrically connected, and preferably a resistor 26 is provided having its midpoint connected to the cathodes 2i. and 22 and its ends connected across the output terminals 25 of the phase shifter 16. A source of anode voltage, consisting of a secondary winding 2'! of a transformer 28, is connected between the cathodes 2i and 22 on the one hand and the anodes it" and on the other hand so as to energize the tubes H and it. Portions 29 and 3% of a resistor are connected in the anode circuits of the tubes ii and it so that the potential difference across the entire resistor 29, it represents the difierence lnanode current in the tubes ii and it. A direct current device, preferably a center-zero current-responsive device, such as an indicating instrument ii, is connected across the ends of the resistor 29, 8t.

The phase shifter i may be of any desired type, such as a four-armed bridge with resistors 32 constituting one pair 0i opposite arms and either inductive or-capacitative reactances, such as condenserslii, e. 'g., constituting the other pair of opposite in the arrangement shown, the transformer 36 is supplying the-anode voltage has'a primary winding it connected across one pair of tier2ni-= nals it so that the tubes are energized by a volt-1 age proportional to-and in phase with the volt age B.- However, if desired. the tails i2 maybe connected directly to the anode circuits of the tubes H and it in place of the transformer connection shown, or the two voltages it and B may be connected in series in such a manner as to he additive in place of the transformer consubstantially the 55 nection shown. It will be observed that the coni value in accurately same results are accomplished from energizing the anode circuits by one of the voltages A and B, by their vector sum it due allowance is made for doubling the magnitude of the voltage, or by 8 an auxiliary voltage of suitable magnitude and of the same frequency. Furthermore, my invention is not limited to placing a phase shifter It in the position shown, as the desired quadrature relationship may also be obtained in some other 10, manner as by interposing a phase shifter in the anode voltage supply circuit.

The principle of operation oi the apparatus will be apparent from the following considerations.

The current output of a discharge .tube having its anode and we energized byalternating voltages of the same frequency is dependent upon the magnitude of the component of grid voltage in phase with the anode voltage and is proportional thereto if the tube is worked in the proper portion of its characteristic curve. In the case oi. small angles the size 'of an angle b tween two radii of a circle isproportional to the chord join-'- ing the two radii,,and the chord is substantially perpendicular to either radius.- F'or the time being it will be assumed that the two original voltages, the phase relationship between which is to be determined have the same scalar value so that their vector representations may form '0 radii of a circle. Consequently, the length of the chord, which is the vector difference between the radius vectors, representsjthe phase angle between the voltages.

In my vacuum tube circuit the anode voltage a is a voltage in phase, substantially with either of the .original voltages to'be compared in phase,

since the phase angle is small. The grid voltage is substantially. in phase with the anode voltage (or 180 out of phase ii the phase angle is negative) and proportional to the phase angle between 40 the original voltages, because the grid voltage is proportional to and in quadrature with the vector difference between the original voltages.

' Consequently the anode current of the tube is.

.- proportional to the phase angle between the orig- 5 inal voltages. By using two vacuum tubes in a push-pull connection l2 can obtain directional readi1 ngs oi either positive or negative phase ang es.

have the same scalar value are shown diagrammatically in Figures 2a to 4d. I

Fig. 2a is a-vector diagram showing radius. vectors representing the voltages A, and B when they are exactly in phase, and their diflerence is, of

course. zero since their scalar values are the same.

It will later be shown? that it is immaterial whether or not the scalar values are exactly the t Figs. 2b and 2c are graphs showing the instan- Mtaneous'values of applied to the tubes "and II, respectively, the anode voltages being represented by the symbol "8 Since, in

' this case. the diiference between the'voitages A and B is sero, the grid voltages applied to the- I tubes are zero and grid voltages do not-appear inthegraphsiiband2c..

Fig. 2d is a graph representing the voltage across the ends of resistor ll, 30, which causes I the instrument ii to deflect. Since the tubes I1 70 and II are connected in push-pull, thatis. in a symmetrical circuit. the difference between the plate currsntsls also sero for zero grid voltage and Fig. 2d appears simply as a straight hori sontal line.

76 Fig. 3a is a vector diagram representing} the.

. The relationships for cases where the two original voltages, to be compared in phase,

in the winding 21 is positive.

condition when there is a small difference in .phase angle between the voltages A and B and the voltage A is leading the voltage 28 slightly. It will be seen that the vector dlflerence is represented by the short vector e which is a chord 6 of a circle of which the vectors A and B are radii. The voltages applied to the control electrodes 23 and 24, however, are in quadrature with the difference between the voltages A and B, and the quadrature vector e represents the voltage applied to one of the control-electrode circuits. The voltage applied to the other control-electrode circult is, of course, of the opposite sign sincethe control electrodes 21 and 24 are connected to opposite ends of the resistor 28.

Fig. 3b represents the instantaneous values oi anode voltage and grid voltage in the tube ll,

. the symbol e being the. anode voltage and e' being the'gridor. control electrode voltage.

Fig. 30 represents the corresponding voltages in the tube II. It will be seenthat the anode and grid voltages have the same polarity in Fig. 3b and they have opposite polarities in Fig. 3c. Current flows in discharge tubes only whenthe anode voltage is positive and relatively little current 25 flows unless the grid voltage is also positive. Accordingly, 'little or no anode current will flow in the tube It and anode current will flow in the tube ll only during the first half-of the-cycle. The voltage across the ends. of resistor II, II which causes deflection of the instrument 3| will, therefore, be as represented by the curve It in Fig. 3d. It will be understood that the amplitude of the, curve of 3d is substantially proportional to the value of the voltage a which, in turn, de pends upon the diiference in phase angle between voltages A and'B and is proportional thereto for relatively small phase angles. I J Figs. 4a., 4b, 4c, and 4d represent the conditions with a small ditie'rence in phase angle but 40 with the voltage B leading the voltage A, In this case, the grid voltage of the tube i1 is negative during the half cycle when the anode voltage is positive, causing little or no current to flow in the tube H, whereas the grid voltage of the tube I8 is positive during the half cycle when the anode voltage is positive, causing an increase in current in tube It and resulting in a negative deflection of the instrument II. The voltage appearing across the ends of the resistor 28, ill at this time is shown in Fig. 4d. It will be seen that the polarity in Fig. id is negative with'respect to the polarity which exists for the opposite phase sequence, which is shown in Fig. 3d.

preferably one having thenormalamount of inertia ot deflecting instruments so that it does not follow the instantaneous values of curves 3d and id but its deflection represents the average value of the voltage pulsations. The magnitude of the m deflection represents the magnitude of the phase diirerence and the direction of the deflection from the zero point of the instrument represents the signoi'thephaseangle.'

Under certain circumstances, it may be desirable to minimise the possibility of slight inaccuracies due to differences between the tubes in their characteristics by inserting a negative grid bias. This may be done, for example, by means of an-additional secondary winding I of the transformer II, with connections such that the voltage in winding II is negative when that In connection with electric power circuits in which the apparatus would ordinarily be used, the voltages A and B v will be substantially the same and constant in numerical value since power circuits are operated, as nearly as possible, as constant-voltage circuits. However, should either voltage A or voltage B drop below or exceed the normal rated voltage, rotation and elongation of the vector e would occur. Nevertheless, this new vector, which might be called e' is resolved into two components, one component being in phase with e and being efiective in producing the differential plate current measuredby instrument 3|, and the other component being ninety degrees out of phase and having no effect on the instrument reading since it affects the average current of both the tubes l1 and I8 equally. Consequently, the instrument reading still depends only upon the phase difference of the voltages A and B.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have described the principle of operation of my invention together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodiment thereof but I deslre'tohave it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrasize tive and that the invention may be carried out by other means. 7

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent in the United States is:

Apparatus substantially unresponsive to the difference in magnitude, but responsive to the and sign of the phase angle between two alternating voltages differing relatively little in phase, said apparatus comprising a pair of electronic discharge devices, including anodes, cathodes and control electrodes, connections forming anode and control electrode circuits through said discharge devices, connections for applying the voltages, the phase angle between which is to be determined, in series opposition in one of the aforesaid circuits, means for applying in the other of the aforesaid circuits an alternating voltage of substantially the same frequency bearing a fixed phase relationship to one of the original voltages,

means for shifting one of said applied voltages substantially in quadrature, and means responsive to the difie'rence in current in said anode circuits.

WALTER MIKELSON. 

